Friday Night Lights is a novel that inspired a motion picture. H. G. Bissinger took a year long visit to Odessa, Texas and wrote this book about his time there.This story portrayed Odessa in the 1980's where intolerance, adversity, and racism ran prevalent. Created by a couple of business men from Ohio in 1886, Odessa was constructed with the idea of previous "boom towns" that had spread throughout the southwestern region. Odessa was considered the worst environment in the United States to settle in, and is still considered one of the most ghastly as of now. A town in the middle of west Texas, nothing but the warm sun and the oil rigs being is the best way to describe it. Only the people who believe they have a possibility of striking it rich show up. This is not only an extremely economically depressed town, but it is one of the most racist towns in America. Also, the passage in which the author describes the racist remarks that were often considered normal for those in Odessa brings out the unusual aspect of the town. That brings us to our major conflict in this story, racism.
To seperate the white and black students in Odessa, segregation of all the surrounding schools in the area was introduced. Yet there was one thing that was able to bring these races together, and that was the concept of football. For years the Permian Panthers, a white school only, had dominated the sport of football. The new laws that had been put into use a couple years before now called for desegregation of the schools, which meant that anyone regardless of race could now play for the Permian Panthers. Yet nothing mattered to them when on Friday night the lights turned on and the football field turned into a battle field. Football had become the one thing that could defeat racism in the town of Odessa. Through this sport the blacks and whites came together and for once racism disappeared in the struggling town. This story takes place in 1988, but the desegragation laws for the United States were passed before in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education. This is a perfect example of how racism in America society still existed even after constitutional laws had been passed. Finally, at the very end of the book when he quotes, " People everywhere, young and old, were already dreaming of heroes," shows how important football truly was to the town of Odessa, and this brings us into are minor conflict.
The most significant minor conflict in this book is that the team had to come together, play tough, and overcome racism so they could live up to their parents expectations to win the 1988 Texas State Championship for the Permian High School. They went through tough times even losing their star running back, Boobie Miles, with a severe ACL injury. This injury caused the team to lose the state championship with only seconds left in the game. Even though the season and state championship had been a failure, in that the team had only gone to state, but not won state, the fans and coaches shrugged it off and started preparing for the next season not more than a week later. Believe it or not, the head coach of the Panthers was also threatened with being fired if he did not win the state championship the following year. He would go on to accomplish this great feat and prove all the critics wrong. The fans never jumped on or off the band wagon, for they were die hard fans that would go to war for their team before they would go to war for their country.
The town of Odessa was a great example of how a town can be so diverse, yet still share one love and come together for one night a week for a couple months. The other ten months of the year were spent in turmoil between the citizens. The football team was some what of a safe haven. This story shows us first hand that no matter how much we thought racism was put on the back burner, it was really still a major problem on up into the late 1980's and still today. Through this book, we can conclude that anyone can overcome intolerance, adversity, and racism with a common purpose. The key is to find that purpose and in this town their purpose was high school football.
Friday Night Lights demonstrates to us that H.G. Bissinger is a distinguished author and reporter. Through following this team and writing about them he was better able to communicate to others at how this town over came hardships and racism through a powerhouse football team in the state of Texas. H.G. Bissinger has won numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize, Livingston Award, National Headliner Award, and the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel for his outstanding achievements in reporting.
To seperate the white and black students in Odessa, segregation of all the surrounding schools in the area was introduced. Yet there was one thing that was able to bring these races together, and that was the concept of football. For years the Permian Panthers, a white school only, had dominated the sport of football. The new laws that had been put into use a couple years before now called for desegregation of the schools, which meant that anyone regardless of race could now play for the Permian Panthers. Yet nothing mattered to them when on Friday night the lights turned on and the football field turned into a battle field. Football had become the one thing that could defeat racism in the town of Odessa. Through this sport the blacks and whites came together and for once racism disappeared in the struggling town. This story takes place in 1988, but the desegragation laws for the United States were passed before in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education. This is a perfect example of how racism in America society still existed even after constitutional laws had been passed. Finally, at the very end of the book when he quotes, " People everywhere, young and old, were already dreaming of heroes," shows how important football truly was to the town of Odessa, and this brings us into are minor conflict.
The most significant minor conflict in this book is that the team had to come together, play tough, and overcome racism so they could live up to their parents expectations to win the 1988 Texas State Championship for the Permian High School. They went through tough times even losing their star running back, Boobie Miles, with a severe ACL injury. This injury caused the team to lose the state championship with only seconds left in the game. Even though the season and state championship had been a failure, in that the team had only gone to state, but not won state, the fans and coaches shrugged it off and started preparing for the next season not more than a week later. Believe it or not, the head coach of the Panthers was also threatened with being fired if he did not win the state championship the following year. He would go on to accomplish this great feat and prove all the critics wrong. The fans never jumped on or off the band wagon, for they were die hard fans that would go to war for their team before they would go to war for their country.
The town of Odessa was a great example of how a town can be so diverse, yet still share one love and come together for one night a week for a couple months. The other ten months of the year were spent in turmoil between the citizens. The football team was some what of a safe haven. This story shows us first hand that no matter how much we thought racism was put on the back burner, it was really still a major problem on up into the late 1980's and still today. Through this book, we can conclude that anyone can overcome intolerance, adversity, and racism with a common purpose. The key is to find that purpose and in this town their purpose was high school football.
Friday Night Lights demonstrates to us that H.G. Bissinger is a distinguished author and reporter. Through following this team and writing about them he was better able to communicate to others at how this town over came hardships and racism through a powerhouse football team in the state of Texas. H.G. Bissinger has won numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize, Livingston Award, National Headliner Award, and the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel for his outstanding achievements in reporting.